One of the highlights of my freshman year was being involved in the USC Rocket Propulsion Laboratory, which is USC’s entirely student-run undergraduate research laboratory determined to send a rocket to space. We are currently working on our third attempt at reaching space with a vehicle called Traveler III. The group has been designing and testing this rocket for many …

This semester, I am taking my final undergraduate class: ASTE 421, Space Mission Design. So far, ASTE 421 has been an amazing experience and a fitting end to four years at USC. Space Mission Design is the capstone senior design course for the Astronautical Engineering degree. On day one, I was handed a Request for Proposal (RFP) and told to …

The USC Viterbi School of Engineering Career Fair is upon us. With the career fair a little less than a week away, today marks the beginning of the preparation: editing resumes, touching base with recruiters, and applying to job opportunities online. The day of the career fair will be hectic. Sporting over 100 companies and the entire engineering school, the …

Space or nothing: this is the slogan of the USC Rocket Propulsion Lab. I joined the Rocket Lab in the fall of 2013, the beginning of my sophomore year. Over the past two years, I have learned everything rocket-related, from research to design to hands-on builds. At first, my contributions to the lab fell into this third category: hands-on builds. …

Alas, senior year has finally come. I have only one more year in the engineering paradise called the Viterbi School of Engineering. While I will be returning to SC for a fifth year to pursue a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering, my final year of undergraduate studies will form the capstone to my Viterbi engineering experience. Now, I truly intend …

If I told you everything about my summer internship at Northrop Grumman Corporation, I’d have to kill you. But let’s start with the basics. Northrop Grumman Corporation is the fifth largest aerospace and defense contractor in the world and has four business sectors: aerospace systems, electronic systems, information systems, and technical systems. As an astronautical engineering major, I believe aerospace …

Hey Everyone! This summer has flown by so quickly, but did not disappoint in the memories or the adventures! Right when the semester ended, I had the opportunity to travel with the iPodia Program to Israel where we experienced its rich and ancient history firsthand. Out of all the places I visited, I would have to say that Acre/Old Akko …

Do you remember when gas used to be under $2? When it was closer to 1? The trend is clear to me: prices for products using oil will continue to increase. Limited resources, like petroleum, can only increase in cost, not to mention all the other bad environmental stuff. Renewable energy is a big buzz word right now, and it’s …

I wrote a blog last year about Astronautical Engineering in my own words, what it meant to me, why I chose it, and my experience thus far. ] The first “invention” I ever had was this: a large reflector in sun-synchronous orbit that would concentrate light in space, beam in back to earth to a solar cell facility, which would …

Today I registered for my last semester of classes at USC (pause for nostalgic moment). My remaining required classes for my major are Spacecraft Mission Design, and Spacecraft Dynamics, 2 classes that will be filled with other smart people passionate about Astronautics. However, to graduate, I need 2 more classes that fulfill the engineering degree’s Technical Electives. Tech Electives are …

I’m about 3/4 of the way through my internship with Boeing, and I wanted to share with all of you what I’m doing, why I chose it for an internship, and why its so AWESOME! Last summer and this summer, I’ve worked in Boeing’s Satellite Development Center in El Segundo, and I’ve been extremely lucky to find that my background …

Of all the courses I’ve taken at USC, the coolest one had to be my astronautics 101 course. It was my first real engineering course, and as with all engineering 101 courses, I took it during my first semester at USC. My professor was a part time lecturer, and spent the days he wasn’t at USC at Edwards Air Force …

In hindsight, I realize that I have been extremely lucky to have my mom as a role model. She is a Chemical Engineer with an MBA and a steady job that she’s great at! She’s also an amazing mother and my best friend. Growing up, I never had any worries or doubts about the fact that I loved math. One …

Hey everyone! So this week I’m blogging about my major: Astronautical Engineering. Astro engineering, or ASTE, is the study of all things space related! This means rockets, satellites, space vehicles, etc. USC is one of the only universities to offer this awesome degree, and it began as an official major here about 6 years ago to meet the rising …

In RPL, we get to live out every rocketeer’s dream job, because, at it’s core, RPL was created with the original goal of being the first student organization to launch a rocket into space (we’re sooooo close). Since it’s creation, we have produced rockets composed of unique materials, created in record time, and that traveled at very high speeds. The …

Off to another great start with USC Viterbi classes for Astronautical Engineering! I’m particularly excited this semester because I just added an entrepreneurship minor, and I am currently enrolled in the first entrepreneurship class of the sequence- BAEP 450. Despite what many may think, it IS possible to take classes/minor while pursuing an engineering degree! Although it is still fairly …

We all know that Engineering classes aren’t easy (especially when we’re talking about 5-6 at once), but I’d also say that neither are they unreasonably difficult, provided you go to class, do the homework on time, and go to office hours (which I don’t, I’ll admit it). What many of us don’t realize, signing up for the next semester of …